Priority: Education
Delivering better results for students, more resources for teachers and more accountability for taxpayers.
"When it comes to education, the riskiest thing we can do right now is nothing. As Oregonians, we understand that not taking action is a choice … a choice to reaffirm the status quo; it is a choice to abandon tens of thousands of Oregon children – in short, it is a choice to abandon the responsibility we owe to the next generation, a choice to fail the future."
-- Governor Kitzhaber, State of the State address, January 13, 2012
In 2011, we started the critical work of aligning our entire state public education system -- from prekindergarten through college -- to support students more effectively and invest in better learning outcomes. That work included the creation of the Oregon Education Investment board and continues in 2012 with bills to integrate early learning programs and establish an Oregon-focused alternative to the federal No Child Left Behind law. As the Oregonian recently noted, "Yes, it's happening fast, but lawmakers ought to share a sense of urgency about changing a system that fails to graduate on time a third of its students."
School Success Begins with Integrated Early Learning Programs
Our Challenge
Oregon has more than 108,000 at-risk children under the age of six, and fewer than half of them get the nutrition, health care, or pre-school services they need to ensure they are ready for kindergarten. Further, early childhood programs often lack coordination and accountability, and are not integrated with the K-12 system. We all pay the price down the road, with an elevated high school drop-out rate and increased costs for counseling, remediation, social dependency, and corrections. Oregon needs a more effective strategy -- one that addresses the developmental needs of children and invests in early learning programs that achieve results and prepare kids for educational success.
Action for 2012
House Bill 4165 will implement recommendations from the Early Learning Council to streamline and strengthen more than two dozen state programs for children from birth to age five and help more at-risk youth arrive in kindergarten with the skills and support they need to succeed in school. Specific strategies include local oversight, incentives for improving the quality of services, and, above all, improved accountability. Passing this bill builds on the important work done by the Oregon Legislature in 2011 and is the next step in integrating the state's education system, from early childhood and K-12 through community college, university, and career.
Read the Early Learning Bill Fact Sheet (pdf)
SB1581 helps us set meaningful achievement goals for Oregon schools and students, and then hold ourselves accountable for meeting those goals so that we can make wiser investments in programs that work.
Read the Education Bill Fact Sheet (pdf)
Achievement and Accountability at All Levels
Our Challenge
Next year's incoming kindergarten class marks a new beginning. These kids will graduate from high school in 2025, the target date for achieving our statewide goal of a 100 percent high school graduation rate. That's just 13 years away and a tall order given that Education Week recently ranked Oregon 46 out of 50 states in K-12 achievement.
Our choice for the class of 2025 is clear: we can stick with federal control and a punitive system that has not served our students or schools, and an over-reliance on standardized testing as the single measure for student achievement. Or we can pursue an alternative that's authentic, that sets high but achievable learning objectives, and that is ultimately accountable to parents, educators, Oregon taxpayers, and, most importantly, to kids across the state. The time is right for a home-grown alternative that focuses on a small number of outcome-based measures -- like third-grade reading, high school graduation, and closing the achievement gap -- that, if met, can accelerate learning and free up resources vital to providing comprehensive education.
Action for 2012
In January 2012, the state applied for a waiver from the narrow provisions of No Child Left Behind, and the Governor's 2012 education bill provides a clear alternative. Senate Bill 1581 will outline meaningful achievement goals for schools and students, outcomes tailored to the unique circumstances of individual districts, essential to ensuring Oregon kids do not end up less educated than their parents' generation and is the next step to building a stronger, better coordinated system of public education. Additional recommendations and tools for educators from the Oregon Education Investment Board, which oversees the state's $3.8 billion annual investment in public education, are included in SB 1581.
Read the Education Bill Fact Sheet (pdf)
Resources
- Executive Summary, Oregon Learns, OEIB Report
- Early Learning Council
- Executive Summary, Early Learning Council Report
Governor's Education Speeches
- Jan. 13, 2012 State of the State at Portland City Club
- Dec. 12, 2011 Oregon Business Summit
- Dec. 2, 2011 Oregon Civics Conference for Teachers
- Nov. 12, 2011 Oregon School Boards Association Annual Convention
- Nov. 1, 2011 Oregon University Symposium on achieving 40-40-20 goals, Corvallis
- Sept. 29, 2011 Childhood Education Summit, Roseburg
- Sept. 27, 2011 Mt. Hood Community College, Early Childhood center Grand Opening, Hood River
- Sept. 6, 2011 State of the Schools Event, Springfield
- June 28, 2011 SB 909 Bill Signing
- Feb. 28, 2011 National Press Club on the Early Learning Council
- Jan. 10, 2011 Inaugural Speech
Oregon's Education Agencies
